Chapter 9
Pain was a regular bed mate for Ichigo and it was not the first time he had woken up in bed with a just healed wound nipping as he moved. It had been a few years though, Aizen having given up on trying to lift him if he cut Ichigo too deeply. More recently Ichigo had woken up alone, on his living room carpet. A big injury, needing a lot of healing and therefor a big injury for him as well sometimes meant he needed a bit of rest time.
He rolled onto his side, hissing as his leg hurt a lot as he moved. That thought brought him round more, his legs weren't somewhere he cut a lot so it was a new sensation. Ichigo sat up as he woke, blinking as he came around. It wasn't his bedroom, or Grimmjow's. It wasn't even a hospital room, something that he kind of expected as the events that led to him hurt returned to him. The room was large, high ceilings and nice modern décor with huge windows taking up more of one wall. The light was diffused through long, thin cream curtains which kept the sun out but let him see easily.
Ichigo pushed the cover down a bit, allowing him to see his lower half. The thick sheets and duvet bunched at his knees but he could see the white bandage round his upper thigh, where he'd fired two shots into his own leg. He was dressed in a loose shirt and a pair of shorts that were too big for him but it was comfortable to lie in.
Ichigo didn't have much concept of money yet but with what he'd seen in Grimmjow's apartment and his own, he could tell that the owner of the house had a lot of money. His door opened and a young woman in a maid's tunic dress and apron entered with a tray with a basin and some towels in her hands.
"Oh, sir. I am so glad to see you awake! How do you feel? Are you in any pain?"
Ichigo blinked at her, not knowing what to say right away. "Eh, no, not really. I'm alright, where am I?"
"You're in your father's home. I will go and get him. He will be delighted that you're awake." The woman had a big smile on her face, seemed very excited to see him awake but Ichigo was definitely not smiling. She left, leaving the door open slightly and Ichigo heard her footsteps disappear along the corridor.
Ichigo was pretty sure his father would be furious with him, perhaps happy that he wasn't dead but 'delighted' might be a stretch. Ichigo fisted handfuls of the white sheets as he bit back tears of frustration and defeat at being captured again. He was a bit surprised to have been brought back to Aizen's own home instead of his own place but then Ichigo had proven that it wasn't secure enough anymore. It hit Ichigo that he'd never see Shinji again. Never get to play chess with him at the large, city scape windows while chatting. Ichigo had been happy in his little world with his library and instruments. He should have stayed.
But then, he would never have met Grimmjow. The fight to hold back his tears just increased. The last thing Ichigo saw before waking up in the room was Grimmjow's blue eyes and just knowing he'd helped the other, saved his life gave him a little solace. Hopefully he'd forget how it felt to be held by the other eventually, and how he smelled. Small things really but Ichigo wanted them then and there. Something he'd have to get over.
In all of his internal depression, he forgot that the woman had left the door open. He spotted it as he turned slightly, his body tensing up. He had no idea how the house was laid out. He had no idea where the house was and he had no idea where his trousers were but he wasn't going to let any of that stop him.
He eased his feet out of the covers and slid them to the soft rug at the side of the bed. He stood slowly, feeling his still tender wounds complain. He stumbled a bit as he walked and felt all the injuries he'd inflicted on himself. His ankle was sore, the shot the other guy got on his leg hurt and the two he did on his other thigh were throbbing. All in all he didn't like his chances of running if he had to.
He shuffled to the door and looked down a wide corridor. There were a number of doors off it, and windows along the other wall. He looked through them and could pick out a few landmarks he'd seen from his own window but they were in the wrong places and it was the wrong side of them. He was clearly on the other side of the city from his own place. At least it was still the same city.
Ichigo couldn't even limp to take a bit of pressure from his hurts because it was both legs that hurt. Limping on one would just hurt the other more. He shuffled down the hall, looking for a stair case to take him down to the ground floor and hopefully to an outside door.
The stairs he found easily but it wasn't easy to get down them. One step at a time, taking turns lowering each leg to try and find the least sore one but he had to just grit his teeth since they both hurt, just in different ways. Each step became part of a pledge to himself. "Never, use, a gun. Never, use, a gun."
He had to take a break at the bottom of the stairs just to catch his breath and wonder which direction to go in. There was noise coming from the left but it seemed to be the quickest path to outside. Quick and certain became more appealing than long but quiet and he snuck that way, making sure his bare feet didn't make a sound. He passed by an open door with three people just inside the room chatting but none of them spotted him. He kept going along the wall, glancing back to make sure he wasn't followed but he saw one of the males coming towards the door, still looking back and laughing slightly. Before Ichigo could be spotted he opened a door on the hallway and stepped inside, closing it over but not completely to keep it quiet.
Ichigo stood at the door for a moment as he waited for the coast to be clear. He jumped as he heard a throat being cleared behind him, turning his sore body too quickly so that it over balanced and fell onto the door, banging it shut behind him.
Ichigo was expecting his father but instead it was the nice man who'd helped him at the lakeside, him interrupting his memorial to his lost son and wife. "Mr Shiba, I'm terribly sorry for intruding." Ichigo kept his head down, his face reddening from being caught slinking around.
"Ichigo, you're alright? What are you doing out of bed?" The bigger man stood up from his desk and headed over, arms out to grab the younger man. Ichigo instinctively shrunk away, turning towards the door more and pressing himself into it. "Yuki came and told me that you were awake, she was just going to help you get cleaned up and get something to eat. Why are you up?" Isshin had frozen when Ichigo reacted the way he did, clearly his motions had alarmed him.
Ichigo looked up at the other. "I didn't want to be trapped by my father again. She said this was his house, but why are you here?"
Isshin smiled a half smile at the other. "This is your father's house; you just don't know who your real father is. I'm afraid I have a lot of birthdays and Christmases to make up for my boy."
Ichigo's brown eyes went wide as he absorbed the other's words. "But, Aizen?"
"Stole you, stole our lives together. You died, only you didn't die. But because everyone thought you'd died, no one looked for you. I have visited Masaki's grave many times, thinking you were there as well." Isshin looked down at his son, seeing his wife's lovely face recreated with a masculine jaw. He knelt slowly, taking Ichigo's hand gently. "I don't know if I will ever be able to apologise properly for not raising you myself, allowing my sweet boy to be used like you have been."
"You're my dad?" Ichigo spoke quietly but was looking directly at the other for the first time. Isshin gave him a little half smile, something that Ichigo recognised from his own facial expressions. Ichigo slumped ungracefully to his own knees, grunting at the sharp pains in both his legs but he quickly threw his arms around Isshin's shoulders, burying himself in the larger man's body and pulling even closer when the strong arms wrapped around him. Isshin laid a hand gently on Ichigo's head, stroking the soft hair gently as a few tears trickled down his cheeks. The feel of his son's warm body against his mended a broken part of his soul, something that had been hurting for so many years.
Ichigo was revelling in the warm grasp, the hand on his head stroking him brought a smile to his face and the comforting smell coming from the other man made him feel safe. "Can I call you Dad?"
Isshin just squeezed his boy tighter. "Only if you want to and if it's not what you called that man."
"He was just Father to me, and he never held me."
Isshin stood up with his son in his arms, Ichigo being lifted off his knees and held off his feet with their height difference. "I don't know if I'll let you go."
Ichigo chuckled, sounding a little wet from the emotions but he closed his eyes and rested his head on his dad's shoulder. "Sounds good to me. Though I'm pretty heavy."
"Yeah, I'm getting that. How about we take a seat instead." Isshin set Ichigo down gently, wrapping his arm around the boy instead and leading him over to the sofa in the room. The door banged open just as they settled next to each other, the young maid Ichigo had woken to standing there looking panicked.
"SIR! Your son," she paused as she spotted the missing male. "Is right there." She finished with a relieved tone and a sigh. "Sorry to interrupt sir."
"That's alright Yuki, he found me on his own. Sorry to worry you."
The girl waved her boss off. "I'm glad he's alright. Young sir, would you like something to eat? You've been asleep for a long time."
Ichigo flushed at the way he was addressed. He thought about it for a moment before realising that yes, he was hungry. "Um, yes I would like something please."
Yuki nodded, happy he was agreeable. "Anything in particular sir?"
Ichigo looked at his father for a moment before looking back. He was still not used to having a choice in what he was eating and was still really clueless on meal options. "I don't mind. Anything thanks."
"Some soup and maybe a couple of light sandwiches would be best Yuki; I will join him as well please."
Ichigo knew what soup was from formal dinners with his father's guests but it wasn't something he had often. And sandwiches were something he hadn't eaten since he was a child. Bread was not a healthy enough option.
Isshin turned to the younger man as the maid left, settling an arm around his shoulders. "Grimmjow has been telling me bits and pieces of your life while you've been asleep. I still don't understand it all but then I don't think he does either. You two haven't been together all that long as far as I can gather."
Ichigo frowned, realising he didn't even know how long he'd been asleep for. "You've spoken to Grimmjow? Is he alright?"
Isshin smiled gently. "He is fine. You made sure of that. Something else I don't understand properly. Grimmjow will be round later after class. He has been coming round every day to see you. I think he's only missed one when he had an exam the next day. How long have you known him?"
Ichigo frowned again. "That depends, how long was I asleep?" If Grimmjow had been coming every day then clearly it was several.
"Two weeks." Isshin spoke quietly, looking at his own lap which conveyed his anguish at the length of the time.
Ichigo's eyes widened. He'd never slept that long after falling unconscious before. "Then I've known Grimmjow for two weeks and two days. He landed on the ladder outside my gym window and winked at me. I followed him and his friend Nnoitra to the park and listened to them play music for a while."
Isshin snorted. "You mean a boy who's known you for two days is so head over heels for you that he spends every spare minute with your sleeping body? And you! You shoot yourself twice for a boy you'd known for less than forty eight hours?!"
Ichigo flushed, dropping his chin. "I knew I'd be alright. And Grimmjow, he only got hurt because of me."
"Bbuuutttt….. you like him." Isshin was smiling goofily as he spoke, Ichigo glancing at him and smiling a bit in response.
"Yes, I really do. I just don't know what to do with it."
Isshin sighed and slumped a bit on the sofa. "No one does, even those who have grown up in a world of freedom. It's a scary thing, the road to love. But at least you're not alone on the path. That boy is crazy about you." It was quiet between them for a moment and Ichigo curled his legs up on the sofa. "Something else that came up when he was here was that you are a little, uneducated about relations, especially between two men."
Ichigo flushed deeply, pulling away from his dad physically as well. Isshin wasn't having any of it though, reaching out and pulling him back. "Nuh uh. No running and hiding. You've known me for five minutes, I know that but I want to be there for you. Someone should have been there for you, to talk to you about this stuff all your life. And it should have been me. And your mum."
"What was she like?" Ichigo laid his head back on his father's shoulder.
Isshin lifted his arm off Ichigo for a moment, wrestling his wallet out of his trouser pocket. He flicked it open and a stream of photographs fell out on a plastic strip. Isshin pulled Ichigo close again while holding the photos in his other hand. The first was of a much younger Isshin holding a beautiful young woman in his arms, her hair just a shade lighter than Ichigo's bright orange. They looked serene and beautiful in it.
"This is our first official posed photo so it's a little stiff. This next one is more like us." Isshin unfolded another one, showing Masaki in his arms with her legs wrapped around his waist. She was pulling a silly face and holding Isshin's mouth to a ridiculous smile. That was only the first silly picture he showed Ichigo, the one of Isshin carrying Masaki in her wedding dress on the beach with his trousers rolled to his knees with them both laughing bringing out the next story. "Yeah, about five minutes later I tripped and fell in the water with her. I wasn't allowed to keep those pictures in my wallet. She hid them. I think her soaked face with the makeup running down as she shrieked at me wasn't something she wanted me showing off." Ichigo chuckled along with the man. Other pictures told more about his parents and eventually Masaki started to show she was expecting. There weren't many pictures left and the chuckles had died from both of them.
The last space in the picture reel was a piece of paper with a tiny footprint done in blue. "This is all I have of you, you were born with no hair so I didn't get a piece and you didn't live long enough for a photograph to be taken. Or at least I didn't think you did. This little foot has given me many kicks up the backside to keep going. Maybe I'll get one of your big feet and keep it as well."
Ichigo looked at his dad incredulously but realised the man was only joking. Yuki the maid put her head around the door a moment later to let the men know their lunch was ready and Isshin dragged his son to the sun room to enjoy lunch at the garden windows.
Isshin didn't want to over whelm the boy so left him to his own devices in what basically equated to his library. Ichigo wandered around, looking over the shelves but he was mainly thinking as he walked. He also realised as he made his fifth circuit of the room that his legs weren't hurting as much as they had when he'd woken a few hours ago which was good. He also realised that he was still walking around in a pair of shorts and a loose shirt, showing a lot of his legs off. Something that became more prominent as Grimmjow was showed into the room.
Ichigo stared at the other boy, his face pale as he did a slow check of him. He stood without a problem, eyes a bit wide but he looked well and fit. Ichigo felt his eyes well a little as he met the bright blue ones of the other boy.
"Ichigo? I am so glad to see you awake. Are you alright? Ichigo?" Grimmjow was so relieved to hear that the other was awake and healing but the silence from him became worrying. "Do you remember me?"
Ichigo gave himself a shake as he realised he'd just been staring at the other rather that speaking. But he didn't know where to begin so he decided to not use words to convey how happy he was to see Grimmjow. He walked towards him, his steps becoming quicker as he approached. The last two were barely steps, Ichigo leaping at the larger man and relieved when two arms grabbed him as tightly as he grabbed Grimmjow's neck. One hand went under his ass and the other went to the back of his neck to hold him close. Ichigo wrapped his legs around Grimmjow's narrow waist to support his weight better before pulling back to look at Grimmjow's face.
"Hi,"
Grimmjow smiled helplessly, a breath escaping him in a hurry. "I take it you do remember me then."
Ichigo nodded, pulling himself in closer again, nearly choking Grimmjow with his enthusiasm. "I remember you. I remember how you smell. I didn't think I'd get to hold you again."
"Well I'm glad I had a shower after the gym then, if you're going to be smelling me." Grimmjow had to break the tension; it was getting too serious when he was just delighted to hold the other. Ichigo pushed off Grimmjow's shoulder to lift his head. He frowned at the other thinking he'd done something wrong. Grimmjow pecked him on the nose, smiling when Ichigo went cross eyed to watch him. "Sorry, I just missed you so much."
"You missed me?"
"Well you've been asleep for two weeks. And you left me to answer all the questions. Most people don't heal up so quick after gun shots after all."
Ichigo tensed at the mention of healed gun shots, struggling slightly to be released and he lowered his legs. He pulled Grimmjow's t-shirt up, running his hand over the smooth skin, no scar to be seen.
"Not even a mark. I know where it was from the hole in my shirt. You on the other hand have three new ones."
Ichigo glanced down at his wrapped legs. "I haven't looked yet." He just shrugged before wrapping his arms around Grimmjow's waist. "I'm so glad to see you. I've missed you too."
Grimmjow snorted as he wrapped his arms around Ichigo's shoulders. "And you've only been awake for a few hours."
"My father wasn't my father."
Grimmjow squeezed him a bit more. "Yeah I know. I've been chatting to Isshin for a couple of weeks. He's pretty cool. Doesn't seem to be inclined to slice you up either."
Ichigo just shook his head. "I like him. It feels nice when he holds me. Different from when you do it."
Grimmjow snorted again. "I sincerely hope so. My thoughts about you are definitely unfatherly."
"How did he know? How did my father, I mean that man end up with me?"
Grimmjow sighed. "I think he took you from the hospital to hold you ransom or something like that. But he discovered what you could do. I really don't want to think how he found out from a baby that he could heal if he got hurt."
"I've been doing it as long as I remember. He wasn't squeamish at using a blade on me when I was young. And how did Isshin find out about me? Being his I mean."
"Have you seen any pictures of your mum yet? It's pretty damn obvious if you ask me. But your blood types match and too many things add up."
"There is a DNA test going through, my lawyers insisted on it for me to officially recognise you but officially or not, you're my son and nothing they can do will change that." Isshin had walked in the door as they spoke, smiling at the sight of the two so close.
Ichigo smiled in response before sighing gently in Grimmjow's grasp. "Where do I live? I mean is it here with my dad, or with Grimmjow? What about school?"
Isshin chuckled lightly. "We can work it all out. You can live where you like, both if you want. Grimmjow told me you were working on university level courses at home so we can figure out where you are and continue them here or get you set up in class like Grimmjow. I am not going to tell you what you can and can't do. I'll only suggest, or at least I'll try to only do that. I'm having to learn this after all."
Ichigo broke away from Grimmjow's embrace but allowed the other to hold his hand when he grabbed it. "Don't think I can help you learn how to be a dad."
"I think we can help each other out. Grimmjow can keep us right."
One more chapter me thinks. Sorry for the wait. I will try and get it done soon. I have two other stories I have started that I refused to post. Two on the go is enough online!
Let me know what you think and if anyone is still around...
